Are you putting the Law of Reciprocity to work for you?
Reciprocation flows from Divine Law that can neither be ignored or put aside. Perhaps, the most important of these laws is the 'law of love.' Put simply, "Love is Law, Law is Love. God is Love, Love is God." This amounts to the same thing as "the gift of giving" without the "hope of reward or pay," or serving others.
This 'law of love' is identified in many different ways--for example, in Wayne Baker's bestseller, "Achieving Success Through Social Capital", this law of love in the workplace is described as the "law of reciprocity."
The law of reciprocity is not what can best be described as "transactional reciprocity." Baker says that, "Many people conceive of their business dealings as spot market exchanges--value given for value received, period. Nothing more, nothing less. This tit-for-tat mode of operation can produce success, but it doesn't invoke the power of reciprocity and so fails to yield extraordinary success."
Baker explains, "The lesson is that we cannot pursue the power of reciprocity. When we try to invoke reciprocity directly, we lose sight of the reason for it: helping others. Paradoxically, it is in helping others without expecting reciprocity in return that we invoke the power of reciprocity. The path to reciprocity is indirect: reciprocity ensues from the social capital built by making contributions to others.
The deliberate pursuit of reciprocity fails, just like the pursuit of happiness. Acts of contribution, big and small, build your fund of social capital, creating a vast network of reciprocity. And so those who help you may not be those you help. The help you receive may come from distant corners of your network."
Rule for Reciprocation:
"One of the most potent of the weapons of influence around us is the rule for reciprocation. The rule says that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us."Robert B. Cialdini, author of "The Psychology of Persuasion" (William Morrow, 1993)
What is a reciprocity advantage and how can an organization achieve this?
A reciprocity advantage is the new, complementary business you create by sharing your assets to unlock additional growth potential--it's a new competitive advantage. You create this advantage in four steps: define your right-of-way (the underutilized resources you already own that you can share with others); partner to do what you can't do alone; experiment to learn together; and then scale your new business at low risk.
Grounded in research, "The Reciprocity Advantage" by authors Bob Johansen and Karl Ronn, argues that this strategy will enable companies to grow more and faster than ever before. Your business or nonprofit can grow from this approach too if you:
1. Find your right-of-way--Underutilized assets you can share with others
2. Partner with others to create a complementary new business
3. Experiment together to learn the new business model
4. Scale it when you find a new business that is Desirable, Viable, and Ownable (you know how to win when the market matures).
The reciprocity advantage will scale much faster if it is grounded in trust. In a world of increasing global connectivity, the importance of trust will increase. Transparency will be required, while control of your own brand story will be increasingly difficult. If you are not trustworthy, you will not grow in this world--at least not for long.
Sources: Bob Johansen: The Reciprocity Advantage: A New Way to Partner for Innovation and Growth